A couple of months ago I was challenged into building an ex Nagant sniper rifle back into an original Sniper rifle.

To date I really had not played around much with Nagants much less a sniper rifle.  The challenge to me really wasn’t if I could tap out the original holes, but more could I build the rifle the way it was used in the field.

The first step was to go online and find every photo that I could.   As you can imagine I found ten unrated images to every one that was what I was looking for.   Even then the images appeared stage and not really in the field.  Occasionally I would find a nice image that was of crappy quality.    I don’t know about you but when I picture a sniper rifle in my head it does not have a brightly polished chrome bolt with high gloss lacquer finish.  I would also not be thinking of a rifle wrapped with jungle foliage.   No I was thinking a hundred different towns and cities

reduced to rubble.    

After about 2 hours of searching I finally found a real live Russian sniper working his way through the rubble paths carrying his Nagant. The rifle was wrapped in cloth which blended in with the rubble.  Who knows what he wrapped it in.  I suppose it could have been filthy dirty medical wrap.  More than likely it was whatever he could find in the rubble at the time.  For all I know it was a ripped up shirt, or a potato sack. When you look close it did not appear to be burlap.   You see a lot of modern adaptations wrapped in burlap. 

All the research was done while waiting for my ex-sniper rifle to arrive. Finding a legit rifle was much easier than finding a photo that I liked. While these are creeping up in price quickly they still can found for less than $400.00  I know I know you bought yours for $150.00!
Well lucky you I paid over $300 for mine.   The ex sniper rifles are marked on the side of the receiver and the four scope mount base holes have been welded closed.  There are tons of article on how to tap the holes etc.   

 The extractor was broken so I put a new one in its place.   Once the scope mount base was fitted I had to skim it a bit to get aligned correctly.   I have not dialed this rifle in.   I built two of these, one to keep and one to sell.   I have no intentions of shooting mine more a few rounds here and there.  There is no doubt with some time and care these can be dialed in nicely for the time. Again I have not done that.  Mine looks fantastic displayed in my  office with all of its accessories and original photo.     More photos will be posted shortly

The scope optics are very clear, and all knobs work as they should.
The bore is very good.
The bolt matches the rifle.
No numbering on the stock.

The images below were taken all throughout the converstion process.